Sean McVay gives thoughts on offensive line ahead of Rams first preseason game

Sean McVay gave a recent press conference and he discussed a few topics including the move of Joe Noteboom from tackle to guard. McVay did not definitively say if this move would be permanent or not, but I think he got a pretty candid on the subject when he dropped this line:

“Everybody’s competing for their spots right now.”

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That might sum up the state of the roster. Outside of Aaron Donald, Cooper Kupp and Matthew Stafford (though I love the John Johnson signing, might be the team’s best signing of the offseason) we just don’t know what this team is going to look like.

“We wanna find the best five.”

The Los Angeles Rams offensive line situation has been in flux since left tackle Andrew Whitworth retired. LA started a new offensive line combination just about every game last season. Hopefully they have better luck with their health this year. It’s going to be interesting to see who this team runs out at offensive line to start the season.

“I think the running game, it’s all about, its takes all 11...it’s the backs understanding depending upon the type of concept that we’re running. Where is the read? Am I really identifying my keys? Am my making, you know, blockers better? I think better runners make better blockers...there’s so many different ways to be able to run the football.”

I wonder if that last line “so many different ways to be able to run the football.” Is McVay saying we can expect more jet sweeps or more runs from non running back positions? Maybe he just means they can run the ball out of a variety of formations. Either way I think it’s an interesting thing to say. I believe LA is going to need a good run game to keep this young defense off the field so they are not over exposed. Otherwise this might be a long season for Rams fans.

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The head coach was also asked about Matthew Stafford apparently running wind sprints after practice. Might we see more designed QB runs? Probably not but the wind sprints are hopefully a positive sign that LA’s quarterback really is as healthy as the team is saying.

“He (Stafford) makes everybody around him better. He makes the coaches better. And he loves what he’s doing and I think he feels good, and maybe he’ll take off on a coupe sprints during the season. We’ll see.”

Wait, ARE we going to see more Stafford designed runs this season!?! I still say probably not and I think McVay is more saying this in jest, but pretty interesting and something to potentially keep an eye on. I’d almost guarantee that if we see Stetson Bennett this season we’ll see some designed runs. Maybe there are a few plays that involve Stafford moving around, but I would guess we’ll see more Stafford rollouts then designed Stafford sprints.

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McVay goes on to highlight the signing of John Johnson, praises Van Jefferson’s latest practices and the receiver group as a whole (the coach feels the wideouts are getting good work in Kupp’s absence) and he wraps up the presser discussing who will start at QB for the teams first preseason game against the Los Angeles Chargers. McVay said that it would either be Stetson Bennett or Brett Rypien.

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“There’s a lot of layers. I think its you know exactly who are we gonna play. We kinda have an idea but we’re gonna finalize that and I want to make sure I talk to our players about that first.”

I guess we’ll find out who is starting at QB tonight and who knows what else we might learn from this first preseason game! Hopefully the team stays healthy and we’ll go from there.